


Death And What Follows

by avenge_the_angel



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, I suck at tagging, M/M, WIP, can't write smut to save my life, fluff for a bit, just saying, like in the PG-13 movies, no seriously it'll cut out right before the good stuff, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-13
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:35:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avenge_the_angel/pseuds/avenge_the_angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark just wanted to move on with his life after New York, but Nick Fury seemed intent on ruining everything. His love life, his social life, his private life, his life in general. And then there's the matter of Phil's daughter. And the mysterious phone calls. And the letters written in crayon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Meetings and Mansions

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction on here. Hopefully I'm doing it right. I'll try to update every Tuesday.

Tony was concentrating hard on his work. He had a few more modifications to make before he was going to call it a day. He was working on Barton’s bow and arrow. Trying to make them more efficient and find a way to give him access to more arrows. The whole running out in the middle of a battle is a little frightening.

But he couldn’t think of a way of making arrows appear out of thin air. Even with his thinking music blasting through the lab, his mind couldn’t come up with a solution. Tony stepped back, and crossed his arms, staring at schematics, trying to figure out a way to make his team safer.

Tony could feel someone staring at him, watching him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Nick Fury staring at him, a look akin to amusement on his face. Tony turned around clicking his fingers at nothing at all.

“JARVIS, the music, if you will.” Tony said loudly. The music turned off, leaving the room in deafening silence.

“So what you brings you to my neck of the woods, director?” Tony asked leaning against a counter. Fury rolled his eye, and walked around the lab a bit.

“The Avengers are having a briefing in a few hours. And I want you to present your modifications to the team. Make sure they like them.” Fury said staring at one of the blue prints of Barton’s uniform. Tony walked towards Fury, not liking the sound of this.

“Okay, you could have sent an email or a text, or an escort at the appropriate time if you were concerned about my attendance.” Tony said sarcastically, tapping something out on his tablet. He couldn’t help but fidget, something was… off.

Plus, he had figured out the solution to something or another.

“There is something that we need to talk about.” Fury said glancing over at Tony.

“Honey, if you want to break up with me you should just come right out and say it. Don’t beat around the bush, chocolate bear.” Tony said sarcastically smiling at Fury. Who was not having any of Tony’s shit today.

“Stark. This is serious. This is about Coulson’s last will and testament.” Fury said turning towards Stark who froze.

“He left something to you. Something that was extremely important to him. I still think he’s an idiot.” Fury said, watching Tony closely, who was still not moving.

“What did he leave, his vintage set of Captain America cards?” Tony tried to chuckle but it came out strained, and he knew it. Coulson’s death was still fresh, his funeral was in four days. Fury knew Tony was just being defensive.

“No, those he left to Captain Rogers.” Tony watched as Fury pulled a file out of thin air and placed it on the counter near Stark. Tony looked at it, reading the cover.

“10 years ago, Agent Phil Coulson was on a mission in Ireland. He was handling a very dangerous mutant. They fell in love, but Coulson was called away to help hunt down Bruce Banner. When he returned to Ireland, to resume his previous job, he found his charge missing, and the agents left behind murdered. Coulson searched for months, but when he found her, it was too late. The rest of the details of the mission are classified, but to sum it up, Coulson left Ireland with a large number of dead bodies piled up, and a baby in his arms.” Tony froze again at this.

The moment Tony found out that Coulson had died, he immediately felt terrible that he knew absolutely nothing about the man. Tony hadn’t even known that Phil had had a child.

“Her name is Valerie, and she’s probably one of SHIELD’s best kept secrets. Coulson swore that if anyone found out about her, he would make them permanently disappear off the face of the earth.” Fury said turning back towards the monitors, which now showed Captain America’s uniform.

It took Tony a minute to find his voice. “Why are you telling me this?” Tony knew exactly why, but he wanted to hear it from Fury.

“Because Phil thought you would be the best to finish raising her, should he be unable. Phil, as you well know, is unable to be there for her. So, you are now her guardian, should you accept it. If you find you are unfit for the job, Phil did leave a list of people he believed had the responsibility and ability to take care of his daughter. Luckily the first six are the Avengers.” Fury said, his eye still on the Captain America suit. Tony flicked something on his tablet that made the specs for the suit appear so Fury could see them.

“Great, why don’t we all just move into one big house and raise Coulson’s child together?” Tony said trying to turn to humor defensively again. This wasn’t the conversation he had ever expected to have with Fury.

“Good thinking, I’ll let the others know of the arrangements, and I’ll make sure they’re all moved in by next week. After the briefing, you’ll meet Valerie. 1600 in briefing room 4C.” Fury said before slipping out of the room. Tony barely even noticed.

What the fuck just happened?

**

Tony had gone down to the briefing room early. He was staring off into space, leaning back in a chair, when Steve Rogers’ voice shook him from his thoughts.

“What are you doing here Tony?” He asked, sounding as if he was concerned about Tony’s health or something odd like that.

“What do you mean?” Tony said, his mind still off somewhere else.

“You’re in a briefing room. Before the meeting’s even started. Are you feeling okay?” Tony shook his head and looked over at Rogers.

“Well, we do have a meeting here right?” Steve nodded. “Then I was misinformed of the time and got here earlier than I should have. Would it make you feel better if I step outside and wait til the meeting’s halfway done before stumbling in?” Tony asked, moving to stand up.

“No. No, just sit down Tony. I was only messing with you. It’s just strange, that’s all.” Steve said laughing lightly. Tony smile and crossed his legs.

“So what are we discussing today? Sexual harassment or proper use of a taser gun now that Coulson isn’t around to man one for us?” Tony said smiling playfully at Rogers, but the pain was clear in his eyes. Steve wasn’t going to push it, but he could see that Tony had something on his mind.

They continued to talk for a few minutes about stupid things like their new handler and Darcy’s possible induction into SHIELD. And Steve couldn’t help but smile. A week ago they would have been at each other’s throats, and now they were just having a normal conversation.

After a few minutes everyone else started showing up. Natasha came in silently, with a glaring Clint behind her. Bruce shuffled in a few minutes later, his phone out in his hand as he flipped through something or another. Thor barged in shortly after and sat next to Bruce, and started talking to him about the movie Bruce had recommended to him. Thor apparently liked it and wanted more movies to watch.

For a few minutes they all sat around talking about random things, before Director Fury walked in, everyone going quiet. No one was quite sure what the meeting was completely about. So soon after the New York incident, there was nothing really to discuss. Well, Tony was aware of what was going on or at least part of it.

“Effective immediately you are all to move your things from the SHIELD quarters you’ve been assigned, and are to move into The Stark Mansion.” Fury said, folding his arms behind his back. Everyone swiveled in their chairs to look at Tony who looked as interested as he did at most meetings (meaning he looked bored as fuck).

"Umm, sir, is that wise? The six of us living together?" Rogers asked a little hesitantly. It wasn't that he didn't like his team mates, but Bruce was right when he had said they were a time bomb. It was dangerous to put them all in a room together. They were the Avengers of Earth, wasn't putting them in a room almost like putting the president and The Queen of England in a room together?

"I think it'll help build team bonds. You'll live together and learn to coexist without using fighting. I understand there will probably be a few problems the first few weeks or months, but I'm sure Mr. Stark has the best contractors and architects on speed dial." Fury said looking happily at Tony. Fury looked as if he was enjoying himself. 

"What if this plan of yours doesn't work out? What if we end up destroying half of New York? Again?" Bruce said looking sheepishly around the table. He knew that everyone was remembering that day in the lab where their fighting had nearly torn them all apart. 

"Bruce, that was because of the spear. All that we said was in result of Loki's power tearing us apart." Natasha sounded so sure of herself. She glanced over at Clint, who had blocked out every memory from when he had been under Loki's power. Bringing it up was always a little risky. 

"And you will work it out. You are the six people who are meant to save the world time and time again. So you better work it out or you'll be fired." Tony wasn't sure what constituted as being 'fired' from SHIELD. They couldn't very well just let you walk out into the street with all the knowledge of the government and SHIELD. He figured that when Fury said fired, he meant with your memory being wiped. Or even worse you're existence is terminated. 

"Okay, say we do this whole team bonding stuff. What are we supposed to do? Sit around and watch movies all day? Train until we can't move our arms?" Steve asked, leaning forward in his seat. Fury smiled and shrugged his shoulders. 

"I think you will figure it out. I have faith that there is something six grown adults can do together that won't be a huge scandal." Fury said looking right at Tony who smiled innocently up at him, before winking to Natasha. 

“Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's mandatory and Stark has approved the move. SHIELD will be funding food and I’m sure Stark will be happy to give you all a tour when you arrive later today. For now, however, our meeting is to proceed as planned. Let’s discuss team building and what you did wrong last week.” Fury said as the lights dimmed and a projector screen floated down.

Try as hard as he might, Steve could not pay attention. Something about Tony was distracting him. The way his eyes seemed to stare at Fury or the projector, but he didn’t seem to be actually seeing them. Normally he could tell when someone wasn’t paying attention, but Tony seemed to be a professional at it.

Steve knew he was supposed to be listening, he was supposed to take notes, and make sure he got everything so he could go over it with the team later. But he couldn’t help but stare at Tony. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, that Tony wasn’t going to be okay.

And Steve wasn’t sure he could leave it alone til he made sure Tony was perfectly fine. But he couldn’t push Tony into telling him. That would only end badly. Steve wanted to come up with ways to get Tony to just talk about it with him, but Steve knew that Tony would never come out in the open with whatever it was that was bothering him.

He turned his attention back to the screen, but kept glancing out of the corner of his eye at Tony, watching him. Making sure he wasn’t about to freak out.

**

Fury started playing videos of the battle and was freeze framing and criticizing what someone had done. When he had gotten to Steve, he said something about how he wasn’t balanced and some other crap that everyone knew was bullshit.

Captain Steve Rogers is so fucking perfect. Tony thought irritably as he stared at the wonderful Super Soldier. His father had been obsessed for years with Captain Rogers and finding him. At first Tony had been so intrigued by the thought of finding Captain America frozen in the ground, and went with Howard on his expeditions and searches. But as Tony grew older, he realized his father was just filling a void with these hunts.

A void that Tony couldn’t fill, no matter how hard he tried. Captain America had taken his father’s heart, and made it impossible for Tony to have a place in Howard’s life. For a while, Tony thought he should hate that man.

He thought he had to despise him with every bone in his body, but there was something about the good Captain that made Tony realize just why his father had spent years searching for him. The man was over all good, he didn’t have a dishonest bone in his body. And Tony was confused by him.

And there was something else about Rogers, that made Tony not hate him. Something Tony wasn’t quite sure of. Tony’s gaze shifted to Captain Rogers. And Tony realized that maybe 70 years ago, his dad had been doing the same thing. Looking at Rogers and wondering why he was the way he was.

Why he was so good and respectful when he had been subject to bullying his whole life, when he had been ridiculed and laughed at and turned away just for wanting to help? How could this man who had been through so much be so good and kind, when even the most privileged of people are heartless and cruel and care for no one?

Tony stared at Steve, wanting to understand why he was Captain America, why he was who he was. Tony stared at Steve, unaware that Fury had tried to talk to him and everyone was now staring at him staring at Steve. Who was avoiding his eyes and politely looking away, that innocent blush creeping over his cheeks.

“Yes, Director?” Tony asked, slowly tearing his gaze away from Steve.

“I was just asking you to come up and share your modifications with everyone else.” Fury didn’t look happy, he looked downright angry. Tony smiled at the Director and wondered if he should interrupt class more often if he was going to be rewarded with that look.

Tony took over an hour to talk about each modification he had added, and Steve was surprised, Tony had been paying attention to Fury because he added in how that would help with something that Fury had specifically pointed out. Steve glanced over at Fury and saw his eye narrow at Tony. It was almost funny to watch Tony make Fury mad.

Steve watched Tony as he talked, wondering how this guy had become such a hero, when he seemed so narcissistic and rude to everyone. Steve wondered how this guy was even still alive with his alcohol consumption.

When Tony had finished, everyone looked to Fury waiting for instructions or more information.

“I believe you all have some packing to do.” Fury said, his eyes never leaving Tony who had returned to his chair, but was now slumped down in it.

Steve walked out of the room and barely heard Fury say something about ‘meeting her’. Steve wasn’t sure what that was about, but he was pretty sure Director Fury wasn’t hooking Tony up with anyone.

And Steve knew that really, he just hoped that was true.


	2. Moving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's getting ready for the move, and Tony meets Valerie.

Natasha and Clint were the first out of the room. Natasha didn't really appreciate the confined space, and the whole room just smelled of sexual tension. She glanced over at Clint, worried about her friend. She had noticed he had been acting strange for a while now and she wanted to know what was going on. Well, she more of wanted to be sure that he wasn't going to get someone killed if they needed to fight anyone any time soon. 

Emotions get in the way of skill and strategic maneuvering. Natasha knew that being emotionally compromised made it that much harder to get a one up on your opponent. Clint was still sulking, and that was bad. The farther they got from the New York incident, the higher the likelihood that someone else was going to try taking over the world. And Natasha couldn't have one of the best fighters she knew being a danger to everyone else. 

She wanted to try and fix this. So she shoved Clint into the nearest room she could find and locked the door behind her. 

"Natasha, what the hell are you doing?" He asked giving the room a quick once over. 

"You're acting weird, and I want to know what's bothering you." She said forcefully, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"I'm not acting weird." But even he didn't believe that. 

"Clint, you've barely said a word since we defeated Loki. You were sulking the entire time we were on our 'vacation', and you didn't even joke about the sexual tension in the room during that meeting. Something's distracting you." She argued, occasionally waving her hand. 

"I'm just thinking. I wanna be more efficient with my arrows. That requires meticulous planning." Clint muttered as he leaned against a wall. Natasha shook her head, not believing a word. 

"Bullshit. Clint, we're friends, we've been through some pretty rough shit. So tell me what's going on!" 

"Talking about my feelings won't do any good, Tasha." Clint said quietly, not meeting her eyes. 

"You don't know that." She coaxed, trying to get him to talk to her. 

"Just drop it." Clint's voice was low and warning, but Natasha didn't listen. Clint didn't scare her. 

"You can't be distracted during battles. If you're not on the top of your game, you could get someone killed." She said staring him down. 

"Stop it, Tasha." He warned again. 

"Just tell me what's going on." She said getting in his face. 

"Talking about it won't bring him back!" Clint shouted. Natasha barely registered him leaving. She winced a little when the door slammed behind him, but her mind was already gone.

So that's what this was all about? Natasha felt terrible, she should have known. She should have been able to read him better. But she didn't, and now he was hiding somewhere and she wasn't going to find him til he wanted to be found. 

**

Bruce had nearly finished packing when he realized Natasha was sitting on his bed. She looked unhappy about something. He turned back to his duffel bag, determined to finish packing and get out of this death trap as soon as possible. It was bad enough that it was a metal boat of some sort, even worse that it flew. 

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked as he neatly folded a shirt, before placing it in his bag. 

"I think I upset Clint." She said quietly. Bruce sighed, he understood how their relationship went. The two were a lot like siblings. They argued, and picked on one another, but the moment things got hairy, it was like they were strangers. Neither of them knew how to deal with their own emotions like normal people, let alone each others. 

"What did you say to him?" Bruce asked, hoping he could understand.

"Well I wanted to know what was bugging him, so I told him to tell me." She said as if it was the simplest thing on the planet. Bruce spun around and looked at Natasha with disbelief. 

"You tried to demand Clint talk with you about his emotions?" Bruce asked loudly. Natasha nodded, confusion on her face. "Well of course it didn't go well! Clint's probably trying to figure out what each emotion is, and having you demand him to tell you what he's thinking and how he's feeling... He needs time to figure these things out on his own. He's a big boy. You should give him sometime." Bruce said watching as Natasha looked away. 

She played with the hem of her pant leg, worry stitched on her face. Bruce understood that they had been through so much together. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to ask about Budapest. Eventually he'd have to know though.... 

"Tasha, he'll be fine. You know Clint better than anyone. He just has things of his own to deal with. He's got that whole Loki thing and everything else right now. You can understand that." Bruce said putting the last pair of pants into his bag. He zipped up everything and gave the room a quick sweep just to make sure everything was in place. 

"I just worry that he'll get someone hurt if he's not at the top of his game." She said, hugging her knees close to her chest. Bruce smiled and sat down next to her. 

"He's one of the best fighters out there. I'm sure that he'll find a way around whatever complications may arise. Don't worry about him. You should know that by now. Are you packed?" Bruce asked rubbing her back. She nodded, a contented smile spreading over her face as she enjoyed the back rub. 

"What do you think it's gonna be like, the six of us living together?" Tasha asked, her eyes still closed. 

"We'll probably destroy the house in the first month, but eventually we'll get the hang of each other. Maybe." Bruce said with a nervous laugh. He hadn't known what to think of Tony's invitation for them all to live in his mansion. He was glad to be out of SHIELD headquarters, that was for sure. But living with Tony and Steve and Thor and the two super spies/ assassin's? Bruce was a little more than weary about the whole thing. 

Tony and Steve got into fights like they breathed them instead of air. Tasha and Clint could be plotting to murder everyone in their sleep, and Thor would probably just yell at the TV and computers and other various technologies. The same could be said of Steve, but Thor would be demanding they work, while Steve would yell in frustration. 

Bruce knew the whole situation would be stressful. But at the same time he realized how good it would be for team building. Living together, eating at the same table, trying to figure out bathroom schedules, movie nights, meals, and trying to coexist would be a challenge, something they would all benefit from. Bruce wasn't over excited about the move, but he wasn't bummed out. 

Definitely not bummed out. He could barely walk anywhere in the helicarrier without someone staring at him, wondering if he was going to hulk out. Everyone seemed scared of him. Which was slightly ridiculous. Bruce had complimented some guy on his hat, and the kid had shoved the hat in Bruce's hand before running off. The hat was now sitting patiently on the desk, Bruce was still deciding whether to take it or not. 

"I think it'll be fun. Strange people always get along well." Natasha said with a knowing smile. Bruce wasn't sure what to make of that, but it almost seemed like a compliment. 

**

Tony found himself staring at a door. He knew what lay beyond, or at least he assumed to know. Actually, beyond that door lay the unknown. Something Tony was not familiar with. He was a genius, a billionaire, an entrepreneur with big plans. He had hated not knowing something. He hated secrets, he hated lies, he hated the unknown. He had been afraid when he pushed the nuke into a different dimension and saw the aliens that lay beyond. He was afraid of what he didn't know or understand. 

He hadn't understood the power of the Tesseract, he hadn't known the full force of the Chitauri. And he had no idea how to raise a kid. His parents hadn't been the best role models for a good parent. His father had chased a ghost, and his mother had been obsessed with charities. Tony was at a complete loss here, this was the biggest unknown. 

Beyond that door lay the biggest game changer of them all. When he walked through that door, he was going to meet his daughter. The young being whose future and life had been placed in his oh so, not worthy hands. Tony was scared that he would do something wrong and fail Phil. What was Phil thinking when he put Tony as his daughter's Guardian?! What the hell was that man on?! 

Tony took a deep breath, he couldn't freak out. Not in front of Fury, who would probably find any excuse to name someone else Valerie's guardian. Tony had to do this. He had to do it for Phil, for Valerie. He had never even met Valerie, but he had to do it for her. Tony took another deep breath, exhaled and closed his eyes. He reached out and grasped the handle, and turned it. The door was opening, he couldn't turn back now. 

For being in the heart of the helicarrier, the room was surprisingly bright, and pink. Tony took in the room, it was really huge, even for Tony Stark. No wonder this flying hulk of metal was massive, it had this in the center of it. Imagine the bridge of the ship, the room with the big glass windows? Imagine that room, but solid, bright pink and covered in stuffed animals and more pink. In one corner there was a mountain of stuffed animals. Well, a legitimate hill of stuffed animals. 

"You think there's enough pink?" Tony asked Fury quietly who chuckled once. 

"One would think." Fury said before walking through the door. "Valerie!" 

There was a small commotion over near the mountain. Tony walked into the room, cautiously looking around. He still wasn't sure if this was a trick Fury was playing on him. It would be one hell of an elaborate trick though. Tony looked back towards the mountain and saw a girl standing on top. He thought he saw something else, but whatever it was disappeared before he could clearly see it. 

"Uncle Nick!" She called out before sliding down the side of the mountain and running over. Fury picked her up over his head and spun her around a few times as she giggled. 

"How you doin' Val?" He asked as he put her down.

"Good, though I still don't like planes. They're too small, and everyone smells funny." She said scrunching up her nose. Tony could only see her profile, but it was enough to know that she was Coulson's child. Those big blue eyes gave it away nearly instantly. Plus she had the exact same shade of hair as he did, and that smile of his. The mischievous one that forebodes trouble. "Maria said that I'm not going back to school?" She asked. 

"No, you'll eventually go back to school, just not that one." Nick said nearly laughing. Tony had never really seen Nick Fury laugh before. "Valerie, I'd like you to meet Tony, he's a friend of your dad's." Fury said gesturing towards Tony. He smiled and held his hand out for Valerie to take. 

She stared at him for awhile, a skeptic look in her eyes. Then she tentatively took his hand and shook it. It was like she was trying to figure out if he could be trusted or not. Tony assumed he passed the test.

"It's nice to finally meet you Valerie." He said when he got his hand back. Her eyes were still narrowed but she smiled at him. 

"Do you wanna play a game?" She asked Tony, getting close to his face. He laughed and nodded, allowing her to drag him away when he said yes. 

For the next hour, they played some silly game with her stuffed animals. At some point, Tony had dived into the mountain and was now crawling through it, trying to scare her. It didn't work because every time he moved, the mountain shook. Tony was sure there was something holding it up, because they were still a perfect mountain, even after he removed himself from it. 

Tony found out that since she was 4, she'd been going to a boarding school in France. She could speak French fluently by now, and had been learning Italian when the school year had ended. While there her father had visited her as often as he could. But what with the Avenger's Initiative, which she knew nothing about, he'd been visiting less frequently. But she knew that his job was a little strange and that he couldn't always be there for her. Which was the reason for the boarding school in the first place. 

"Does all this pink bother you?" Tony asked as he sat around one of her tiny tables, coloring with her. Fury had left at some point, so it had been just them for a while.

"A little. But, I got used to it." She said shrugging. Tony stared at her as she neatly tried to stay in the lines. 

"Would you like a change of scenery?" Tony asked. She looked up and gave him that questioning look he got from so many other people. "I know how lonely it can be cooped up in the same place for a long time, and Nick said you weren't going back to that boarding school. I have a large mansion, and not enough people living in it. It's probably the safest place in the world at this point, so I know your father would approve of it." Tony said, meaning it as a kind of joke. 

"Why are you asking me? Why not just ask my dad?" She asked looking at Tony.

"Because he said it was up to you. If you want to, you can come and live with me and my friends. Who are also friends of your dad's. If you don't want to, then you can just stay in this nauseatingly pink room." Tony said looking around the room with mock disgust on his face. Valerie laughed and nodded. 

"But on one condition." She said, her face going blank quickly. "I can bring all my stuffed animals with me." Tony looked over his shoulder at the pile of stuffed animals, then around to where others were scattered on the floor. 

"The only problem will be transporting them from here to there." Tony conceded looking at Valerie. "Why do you need all of these anyway?" He asked curious as to how she had acquired so many stuffed animals. 

"Maybe later." She said before going back to her drawing. Tony smiled and quickly sent a text to Fury. 

**

Fury was in the middle of discussing budgets with some head of state or whatever when his phone buzzed. It was from Tony Stark. 

"WHY THE HELL DOES HE NEED A JET?!"

**

Steve had gotten a text from Tony telling him to 'get his ass moving'. Apparently Tony was going to give everyone a tour of the mansion and he was only going to do it once. Steve rolled his eyes and hopped on board the jet leaving for ground. He nodded at Natasha who he was sitting next to, and realized that Tony wasn't on the jet. Steve shrugged his shoulders, assuming that Tony had gone down earlier. It had been nearly six hours since the meeting. 

"Has anyone seen Stark Mansion?" Bruce asked as the jet started flying. Everyone shook their heads. 

"I saw it from a distance 70 years ago. I assume it looks different now, though." Steve said quietly thinking back on when he and Bucky would walk through New York and watch as the buildings seem to spring up over night. 

No one talked for awhile. Before Clint finally said something near the end of the flight. 

"Has anyone even seen Stark since the end of the meeting?" No one had an answer to that one. And the little answer that Steve did have, he wasn't willing to share. He still wasn't sure what Fury had meant. 

As soon as they touched down they hurried off the jet, so that it could take off again. They all stared in awe at the mansion before them. Huge silver gates barred the way into a fantastic front lawn/garden that looked beautiful and well kept. The large brick house beyond it was pristine and a perfect mixture of new and old architecture. There was a large glass dome, covering a portion of the mansion while the rest had dark tiling for roof. 

"Welcome, to Stark Mansion!" Tony's voice boomed as the gates opened. He stood just beyond them with a small girl by his side. 

"Who's that?" Natasha asked, honestly surprised to see Stark with a little kid. He did not seem like a kid kind of guy.

"This is Valerie Coulson." Steve stared in shock. Coulson's daughter? It couldn't be. 

"Wait, Coulson left his daughter to you?!" Clint asked bewildered and slightly offended. Valerie looked up at Tony and said something quietly. Tony knelt down next to her and tried to talk to her smoothly, but she ran off anyway. 

"By the way, she didn't know about her father's passing. I hadn't gotten to that part yet." Tony said with such attitude before running after the little girl. Steve had no idea what was going on, but one thing did seem to register in his mind. 

"You hardly seemed surprised about Coulson's daughter. But you sounded like you took offense to Tony being her guardian." Steve said suspiciously looking at Clint. 

"You can hardly blame me. I've known about Valerie for almost a year now. I was supposed to meet her when she got back from boarding school." Clint said before walking towards the house. Thor followed him, seemingly confused about pretty much everything but the promise of food in the house. Steve looked to Natasha, who was watching Clint leave. 

"Should I even ask?" He asked her. She just shook her head and followed him inside. 

Steve was the last one to walk through the gates. 'Well this is going to be interesting.' He thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anyone will freak out about this, but there's a reason that Valerie trusted Tony quickly.


	3. National Security Be Damned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life at Stark Mansion will definitely take some getting used to.

“You wanna talk about it?” Natasha said leaning against the door frame into Clint’s room. He was sitting on the bed, glowering at nothing in general, body tucked around his new pillow. He most definitely did not want to talk about it either.

“Are you at least going to acknowledge the fact that I’m here?” She asked knowing he had no intention of doing that either. She stared at him for a few moments, trying to figure out what next.

“You scared her you know. She had no idea. Maybe you should go talk to her?” Natasha asked, hoping he actually would do that. 

“I can’t.” Was all he said in reply. 

“What do you mean ‘you can’t’?” Natasha asked. Clint just shrugged, and kept sulking. 

“She’s going to be living here, and so are you. So you have to talk to her at some point. What better time than the present?” Natasha asked moving to sit beside Clint. He shrugged again, but this time more resigned. 

“Maybe later.” He grunted out after a few moments. 

“No, now. You guys already have more in common than any of us do with her.”

He scoffed. “Really? And what’s that?” He asked in disbelief.

“Coulson.” 

“Screw you.” 

“Clint, he was going to introduce you to his daughter for god’s sakes! Just go and talk to her about the relationship you two shared! She has no idea what’s going on! She is going to be thrust into this life, and whether she likes it or not, her dad can no longer be there for her the way she needs him to be there. All she has now is Tony, and us. We’re a team and we need to act like one.” Natasha shouted at Clint. She grabbed his pillow from him and promptly left the room. 

Clint glared at the doorway for a good five minutes before getting up and leaving the room. All the way down to the living room, three floors down, he grumbled angrily under his breath, cursing Natasha in at least three different languages. 

When he got to the living room, he found Steve, Tony and Thor gathered around the microwave in the open kitchen as Tony gave a tutorial on how to properly use it without destroying it. Bruce was sitting on one of the couches, messing with the DVR to record documentaries and other shows he was interested in. Every now and then a small voice would pipe in and ask him to record something. 

Clint took a deep breath and walked over to where he assumed Valerie was sitting on the couch. He sat next to her, nervously avoiding her gaze.

“I’m Clint.” He said reaching his hand out. He looked like a puppy that had done something wrong and was about to get in trouble for it. 

“I’m Valerie.” She shook his hand politely. 

“I’m sorry about what I said earlier today.” Clint said quietly, scooting a little closer. He didn’t want the rest of the team to think he apologized a lot. Thankfully Thor and Steve had quite a few questions about what could and couldn’t go in the microwave, and Bruce was enthralled in a documentary about mermaids.

“It’s okay. Everyone’s been avoiding the subject of my dad a lot recently. I figured there was a reason for it.” Clint grimaced at her. He knew how much it hurt to have people lie to you just for your sake. 

“I was just very hurt. I was…. really good friends with your dad. And I assumed things I shouldn’t have.” Clint said. Valerie smiled at him.

“My dad told me about you, you know. He said that he was going to introduce me to the man he wanted to be with forever. That was a few months ago and since then I’ve been dreaming that I’d come home from boarding school and I’d get to stay with you and Daddy. I’d go to school here, and we’d have dinner together all the time, and have a beautiful house that was just ours. But when I got home and no one told me where Daddy was, or why he hadn’t come to see me, I knew something was wrong. I thought it was gonna be you that would come and take me home and tell me why Daddy was gone. And we’d be a family, even though Daddy couldn’t be there with us.” Valerie said looking Clint in the eyes. 

“But we can still be a family. A little larger than you imagined. The six of us, we’ll protect you no matter what happens. I promise you that.”

“I know. So, do I have five daddies now? Or is it just Tony?” Valerie asked, a small smile gracing her lips for the first time since the start of this conversation. 

“I have no idea. Legally, Tony is only your guardian. I’m pretty sure it’s up to you. But I don’t think you can call all of us Daddy. It could get confusing.” Valerie giggled and nodded. 

Suddenly a loud yell startled them.

“Thor, yelling at the stove isn’t going to put the fire out!” Tony screamed as Thor reached for his hammer. 

“Then I shall kill it! The monstrous beast cannot spew flames if it is lifeless!” Thor growled as he raise Mjolnir over his head. Luckily Steve caught his arm and led him away from the room. 

“Funny thing about gas stoves, Thor. It’ll probably still remain on fire no matter how lifeless it is. I’m actually pretty sure that destroying the stove will cause it to burn faster.” Tony said as he reached for the fire extinguisher. 

“Your technology is strange, Stark. How sure are you that it will not take over your world?” Tony had honestly no answer to the question and instead offered to teach Thor how to use the phone and multiple take-out orders near the fridge. 

Valerie looked at Clint before cracking up. For a good few minutes the two of them were just laughing. 

“Growing up here is going to be interesting isn’t it?” Valerie asked grinning at Clint. He nodded, wondering how the hell the six of them were going to raise a kid. None of them knew the first things about kids. Thor could barely work the phone, Tony was… well Tony Stark, Bruce was probably scared of them, and Clint was still one of them. Natasha and Steve were probably the only ones skilled enough to be parents, but one was a master assassin and the other was Captain fucking America. 

Well, at least she’d grow up knowing a specific set of skills.

The next two hour were spent with Clint and Valerie playing a never ending game of War. Every time Clint thought he had won, she snuck up with her two queens and king and ace she never seemed to lose. And every time it happened, he would yell in frustration. She would just giggle and smile like an evil mastermind. 

“So, what’s with all the stuffed animals?” Clint asked her as she picked up her cards from yet another victory. 

Valerie looked up, and seemed to think about a good answer for a few moments. She stood up and took Clint’s hand. She led him to her bedroom, which was nearly filled to the brim with stuffed animals. Clint had seen it when he had first gotten here and then again when he had left his solitude to find Valerie. His room was just down the hall from hers.   
She led him to the bed and made him sit down. She gracefully walked through the seemingly unorganized piles around the room towards a specific pile of stuffed toys. She picks up five animals and brings them over to Clint. 

She picks up a cute little dolphin with a surf board, “This one my dad bought me about five years ago from a store in Malibu.” She put that one down and picked up a bear with a Knicks jersey on. “This one he got about four and a half years ago in a store in Manhattan.” She put that one down and grabbed a teddy bear with the Stark Industries logo on it. “He got me this one at the Stark Convention four years ago.” She picked up a bunny rabbit next. “This one he got me at a pet store in New Mexico two years ago.” Then she picked up a big black bear with a ‘I heart New York’ shirt on. “This one he got me at Times Square, also two years ago.” 

At first Clint had no idea what any of this meant, but when she said New Mexico, everything clicked. 

“You’ve known about the Avengers Initiative since day one.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Yes, but that’s not what I’m showing you. Every time my dad went on a mission, he’d bring back a stuffed animal for me from where ever he had gone. He would share the whole story with me, regardless of national security. I’m a little girl, who would believe me, right? There are stories, stuffed animals that I don’t remember. He’s been doing this since the moment I was born. It was his way of saying sorry he was missing out on time with me. He brought me toy from China a few years ago, and he told me how he met you and saved you from being a bad guy.” She said her eyes sweeping over the probably hundreds of stuffed animals. Coulson had travelled a lot. 

“A lot of them are similar, and a lot are just silly little things. But it was a tradition. And I looked forward to them, not because I wanted or needed more stuffed animals, but because of the stories. He would always bring back these amazing stories of the people he’d met and the battles he’d fought. And I was looking forward to him coming home this time because he’d been gone for so long. And I saw stuff on the news, the fight in New York, I thought for sure that he was involved in all of that.” She said absently playing with one of the stuffed animals. 

For a while they just sat there, Clint thinking about all of this, Valerie silently wondering a question no one seemed to want to answer. 

“How did my dad die?” She hadn’t asked it before. “Tony said he died in battle but then didn’t explain.” She said quietly. But Clint just smiled at her, kissed her forehead and walked out of the room. Valerie watched him go, wondering why he had left so soon. She imagined it was because of her question. He had loved her dad; this subject probably hurt him more than anything. She decided she wouldn’t bring it up again. 

**

Tony was sitting with Natasha in the dining room, they were going over battle strategies should the team agree to playing Capture the Flag. Tony was just about to suggest something when Natasha held up a hand. 

“Someone’s taking one of your jets.” She said before going back to the battle plans. 

“WHAT?!” Tony screamed before rushing to a window. “JARVIS, patch me into that jet’s comm system.” Tony said quickly. 

“I’m sorry, sir. Agent Barton disarmed the communcations systems the moment he entered the jet.” JARVIS said over the intercom.

“Barton? Clint just stole one of my jets? Why on earth would he steal my jet?” Tony was bewildered as he sat back down at the table. 

“You’re not going after him?” Natasha asked calmly shifting something on the little map they had laid out. 

“No. I’m sure he’ll be back. If not, the jet has a tracking system. I can find him and steal back my jet if he takes too long.” Natasha looked at Tony with interest in her eyes. She knew that if that had happened four months ago, Tony would be already tearing Clint out of that jet. 

** 20 Hours Later**

Valerie was on the couch eating a bowl of cereal when she heard the soft pad of feet behind her. She put her bowl on the coffee table and looked over just in time to see Clint vault over the back of the sofa and onto the seat cushion beside her. In his hands was a stuffed eagle. 

He handed it to her and smiled. “This is from Stuttgart. The team followed Loki there two weeks ago, when they figured out what part of his plan was. I can’t really include myself in that number, I was under Loki’s control. He had this strange scepter thing that when it touched you, it made you one of his minions. I was stuck like that for nearly a week. I had no control over what I was doing. But Uncle Steve stopped Loki from massacring the people of Stuttgart. Tony and Steve were taking Loki back to the helicarrier when Thor showed up for the first time, and took Loki with him. You see Thor is Loki’s older brother. They’re gods from Asgard a realm very far away. We can’t go there, but Thor repaired the Bifrost, which is his way of travelling from world to world. Then Thor, Tony and Steve had this huge battle in the woods, cause none of them really trusted each other. That was the first time Steve and Tony and Thor were even meeting each other. Then they all went back to the helicarrier with Loki and had him in this huge cage, but his presence on the ship was a big mistake. It nearly tore the team apart because his scepter was messing with their brains, making them fight with one another. Me and Loki’s other minions took advantage of their fighting and planned to break Loki out. We sent the helicarrier plummeting towards the ground.”

Valerie listened to his story, her eyes trying to see it played out in her mind. She had never seen Loki and would have to imagine what he would look like on her own. Clint knew what was coming next and took a deep breath. 

“I let Loki out of his cage, and then set off to find other SHIELD agents to kill. That was my primary objective. Your father stood up to Loki. While we all plummeted to our deaths in the helicarrier, your father stood up to a god to protect what he believed in. Steve and Tony were trying to fix the helicarrier, and everyone was busy fighting Loki’s brainwashed soldiers. And Loki used one of his tricks, and killed your father. He was a brave man. Because even as he lay dying, he took one last shot at Loki. The battle in New York, your father died before it even started. But we won because of him. He brought this team together. His death gave us something to fight for, it was what we needed to become a team. Before that fight, we had never worked together. Ever. And then, we just came together and worked. Because of Phil. He’s a great man. And the world is missing out now that he’s gone.” Clint said smiling at nothing in particular. 

“I loved your father. I never got around to saying it to him, but I did. And now you’re all I have left of him. I promise I’ll keep his tradition going. In his memory, and for our future ones.”

Valerie stared at the eagle, and then at Clint. She smiled and threw herself at Clint, hugging him tightly. Clint could tell she was crying, and he could tell she was happy. He would always have a story and stuffed animal for her when he came back from a mission, national security be damned.

“Thank you, daddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the story from where I had left off and couldn't seem to write anything for a long while there. But now hopefully I'm back.


	4. Strange Noises and New Territory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets some bad news and Natasha strays into unknown territory.

A strange noise woke Clint up. His mind jumped to attention and he looked around assessing his location, basic training at the forefront of his mind. The strange location jarred him a bit, but his mind quickly processed the fact that he had fallen asleep in Valerie’s room last night and was now on her bed, Valerie tucked quietly against his body. He looked around the room, the source of the strange noise either gone or adept at hiding. 

Clint relaxed and laid back on the bed. He looked at the girl in his arms, and thought back on yesterday. After he got back from his trip, they talked about everything; his past, Phil, school, favorite animals, favorite movies, favorite ice cream flavor. They had fallen asleep after a heavy discussion about Disney movies and the fairytales they were based on. 

As Clint lay awake in the early morning hours, he thought about what Valerie had said yesterday. Phil had told her about him. Phil had told her that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Clint. To Clint this was bigger than a profession of love from Phil himself. Phil had already put the works in motion to create a family between himself, Clint and Valerie. And now he would never see it come to fruition. 

Clint unconsciously hugged Valerie closer to him, as his mind drifted back into the dream world. He was still awake, his mind floating through the dream he had just woken up from. It was slipping away, but there was still something there. Phil was there; he had kissed Clint and told him to protect Valerie. Clint knew it was just a dream, but some part of it felt so real, like Phil was really there, Clint could practically smell Phil’s cologne. But it was all in Clint’s mind, he was just wishing that Phil had really been there.

Valerie shifted and Clint turned his attention back to her, watching her breathing patterns and eye movements. She was fast asleep, Clint’s being awake wasn’t bothering her. He knew there was something he still had to do. Valerie’s legal guardian was Tony, and if Clint wanted to care for and protect Valerie the way he wanted to, that had to change. 

But how on Earth was he going to change that? He had no idea about legal matters, and not to mention, what if something happened to Valerie? What if she got sick, or broke a bone? He knew he was over reacting and SHIELD would probably be more than happy to help out, but he was about to try to adopt a kid, he had to think of these things. 

Clint pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Tony. He was going to try to talk to Tony about all of this, maybe see if Tony would be okay with this change. He wasn’t sure how prepared he was to be a father, but he at least wanted this, while Tony didn’t. 

**

Tony hated waking up early. If it was before noon, you shouldn’t even try waking him up. He loved his sleep and had an array of weapons and other technologies he could rain upon anyone who disturbed his sleep. He didn’t sleep very often, so when someone disturbed what little sleep he got, he was pissed. 

So when his phone buzzed lightly near his arc reactor, he grumbled angrily. He had just fallen asleep. Who the hell needed what this time?! He reached for his phone and glanced at the screen, but at that moment he wished he hadn’t. It was from Clint. 

He wanted to be Valerie’s guardian. Not just her guardian, her father. Tony put the phone down and sat up, putting his head in his hands. This wasn’t what he wanted to happen, what he was expecting to happen. 

When Clint had just suddenly left, Tony had spent the whole day with Valerie. Tony had been given this responsibility, and now when he was just getting used to the idea of it, someone wanted to come and take it away? Tony felt sick. 

He stumbled out of bed, and reached for his clothes. He got dressed quickly and grabbed his phone. But then he thought better of it and threw it back on the bed and left the room. He quickly made his way through the mansion, towards the garage. Before JARVIS or anyone else could object to whatever decisions he was about to make, Tony grabbed the keys to one of his many expensive cars and sped away from the mansion. 

Tony had to leave. He had to get the hell out of there. He angrily drove through the streets he knew would be deserted. He was in no mood for people or traffic jams. He pulled up to an expensive bar and walked in. 

He didn’t give a damn if he was a recovering alcoholic. He didn’t care that it was 8 in the morning and he didn’t care that someone was waiting to hear from him, he needed a drink. 

**

Natasha knew pretty much everything that was going on. She knew why Tony had left in such a hurry, but she had no idea where he was going or what he was doing. Which was why she was now standing outside Steve’s door. He had to know that Tony was probably doing something stupid. 

“Steve, are you awake?” She asked quietly, knowing he could hear her. A soft grunt let her know he acknowledged her presence outside his room. She opened the door, and quietly walked in, closing the door behind her. 

“Tony left.” She said simply as Steve rubbed his eyes, waking up completely. 

“Well, Tony is his own person.” Natasha knew Steve was trying to give Tony some space. Trying to control was like trying to control the tides or pin a cloud down. It didn’t work. It would never work. They just had to flow with what Tony did. 

“That’s not what I meant. Tony got a text from Clint, one that in retrospect could have been a face to face conversation instead of a text. However he sent it in a text and Tony quickly left and got in a very expensive car and drove off angrily. I don’t think it’s in Tony’s best interests to be given space right now.” Natasha crossed her arms, watching Steve with a careful eye. 

“He drove off angrily?” Steve asked carefully after considering this information for a second. She nodded slightly and Steve put his head down.

“He probably went to a bar, didn’t he?” Steve asked clarifying with Natasha what he was already sure of. She nodded again, and Steve sighed. 

“JARVIS, can you find Tony for me?” Steve asked out loud looking around for his clothes. Natasha left without saying another word and walked down the hallway. Steve had it covered and it was no longer her problem. 

Natasha cared about Tony, but it wasn’t her job to hold his hand or get him out of trouble every single time. As she walked towards her room, she noticed Bruce’s door was open. She, being the curious woman she was, peeked inside. He was nowhere in sight. Must be in the lab. She thought, closing the door to his room. She stood there for a few seconds before deciding to join Bruce in the lab. 

**

Bruce couldn’t sleep. That wasn’t new to him. But what was new, was the state of the art lab down stairs that he could access whenever he wanted. In the middle of the night, on holidays, during the weekend, whenever he wanted. Bruce had felt so happy when he first found this. Tony hadn’t even shown him, he’d just kind of found it on his own. And it looked like it had been set up just for him. 

Bruce had been working on his experiments all night when Natasha finally found him. He expected her to show up sooner or later, she always seemed to know everything about everyone. 

“Good morning, Natasha.” He said quietly, as she sat on a stool near him. 

“Good morning, Bruce.” She said just as quietly as she tilted her head to the side, watching what he was doing. He doubted he was doing anything that would interest her. He was working with a sample of Steve’s DNA and trying to map how the Super Soldier Serum worked with the original DNA. So far, it was all very interesting, very informative, but didn’t get Bruce anywhere with his own Gamma radiation research. 

“Tony ran off. Steve’s going after him, but I don’t know how bad it’ll be.” Natasha said after a few minutes. Bruce didn’t lok up from his research, but instead hummed in interest.   
“Which car did he take?” Bruce eventually asked, when Natasha remained silent.

“Some expensive car. It was red and low to the ground.” Natasha commented, picking up some vial of glowing green something. Bruce reached out and took the vial, putting it back where it came from without so much as looking away from his work. 

“That is a very dangerous chemical compound. If it gets on your skin it will create a reaction similar to being dunked in acid while suffering from the Black Death, in less than two minutes. And that car is actually the most expensive one Tony has. You said he left angrily?” Bruce said switching out what sample he was looking at in the microscope. He gasped and jotted something down in his journal. 

“Yes, very angrily.” Natasha eyed the dangerous chemical compound with appreciation. 

“I am destroying the chemical compound and I will not reveal any of its components to you or any form of government. So don’t even ask. Well, let’s hope Tony has insurance.” Bruce said, moving towards the centrifuge. He took one of the many vials laying around, and placing something inside, and added one of the samples from before to it. He did the same to the other sample and placed them inside the centrifuge. 

“My DNA is one and Steve’s in the other. I’m comparing them to see where I went wrong and where Erskine went right.” Bruce said writing something down in his journal. Natasha watched him move around and add chemicals to specific vials or beakers, just watching him be him. 

Natasha didn’t know when she had realized she had loved Bruce. Yesterday? The day before? When they all moved in? A week ago at a meeting where he shared his experiments involving a possible injection to give everyone a little bit more strength, more power, and higher tolerance for pain. She had studied his work, his profile so that she could track him down successfully. She had cared about his well-being more than she cared about her own when Loki’s minions were attacking the helicarrier. She hadn’t realized then, but knew it now. 

She watched him work, watched his hands move, watched his mind process all the information he was receiving. There was something so professional about him. Natasha smiled; something about watching him was comforting. Bruce wasn’t someone she had to constantly worry about. She worried about Clint constantly, because he was so reckless, as was Tony. Steve was a big boy but sometimes extremely naïve. Thor was strange and quite large. She worried about all of her new family. But she didn’t worry about Bruce as much.

Natasha had come face to face with his monster, knew what he was capable of. She knew that he could protect himself and any one he wanted to. Natasha didn’t worry about Bruce, she didn’t have to, and part of that is why she admired him so much. He was an individual that didn’t always need protecting, someone who didn’t always need her to come rushing in to save him when he got in trouble. 

Natasha kept watching him work, until she heard Steve leaving the mansion. She checked her phone and found that Steve was going after Tony and would try to bring him back. Natasha put her phone away and looked up to find Bruce staring at her. 

“What?” Natasha was used to people staring at her. But Bruce was full on staring at her, watching her every movement like he was waiting for some kind of tell. 

“Nothing. You’ve been watching me for the last half hour so I thought it was my turn to watch you.” Bruce said with a touch of humor. Natasha raised her eyebrows, her lips curving slightly. She had no idea that he had noticed. 

“I’m joking, heard from Steve?” Bruce asked, not turning back to his work. Natasha nodded, her eyes now deeply entranced in Bruce’s. 

“He just left to go look for Tony.” Natasha said, feeling her heartbeat rise slightly. Her voice was quiet, slightly out of breath. What is wrong with me? She thought silently. 

“That’s good. So why were you watching me so intently?” Bruce asked smirking at her. Natasha tried her best at her poker face, but somehow was sure it wasn’t convincing. 

“I was just watching you work.” Natasha said quietly, that breathy voice coming back. She was acting like a stupid schoolgirl with her crush. She was an international spy and assassin, she had dealt with drug lords and other assassins, and yet she was getting emotional because of some stupid affection. 

“Watching me work. Is there a reason for watching me work? I don’t have a problem with it, but normally people don’t just sit around watching people for fun.” Bruce said, his hands continuing on something, while he stared at Natasha. 

Oh God, did I really just bite my lip? What the hell is wrong with me? She screamed internally. No she was Natasha Romanoff, she was the Black Widow, and she could take down anyone she wanted to. So what the hell was she doing?

Bruce apparently noticed her internal conflict, and he now was laughing quietly at her expense. Natasha had half a mind to round kick his head.

“You’re really quite beautiful when you’re panicking.” Bruce said his eyes finally leaving her as he paid full attention to his work again. Natasha narrowed her eyes at him. What did he just say? Momentarily her mind flitted through all the things he could have meant, but there was only one thing on her mind. He had just called her beautiful. And said that she was panicking, but the beautiful thing was what she paid attention. 

She had not been trained for this. She wasn’t trained for real life situations where she was attracted to someone who might possibly be attracted to her. This was new territory for her. Something she wasn’t altogether sure about. 

But she couldn’t spend all her time thinking about what could be, what she might be mistaking. She had an opportunity, and she needed to act now. She swallowed all her fears, all her doubts and walked towards Bruce. 

He looked up as she got near, a look in his eyes that told her ‘it’s about damn time’. She grabbed him and their lips locked. Something ignited in Natasha, an emotion she wasn’t sure she had. Something she couldn’t quite describe. For a while, they stayed that way, kissing. Something felt right, but part of Natasha panicked and begged for air. But she stayed, against her instincts. 

When they did break apart, Natasha found Bruce’s eyes and stared at him, trying to decipher what he was thinking. He had a small smile on his lips and Natasha rightfully took that to mean he was okay with this new development. She realized that one hand was on her hip the other on her neck, both touching gently. Natasha smiled at him and grazed her long fingers through his hair, black but peppered with gray, showing the stress he was under on a regular basis. They weren’t gonna talk about this. They didn’t need to, they both understood what this meant. Eventually they would have to smooth out all the details but not now. No, for now Natasha was perfectly comfortable kissing him some more.


	5. Too Damn Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve looks for Tony and Clint realizes his mistake. Not on his own either.

Steve had no idea where to look for Tony. New York was a large place, and Steve didn’t really know the layout anymore. But he did know one thing, Tony was probably hiding out in a bar, drinking. He had no idea what Clint had said, or what was going on. But that didn’t matter. What mattered right now was finding Tony. Steve had a lock on his location, but it wasn’t necessarily accurate. Steve sat in the back of the taxi and closed his eyes. He hadn’t been trained for this, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to deal with this. 

When the taxi stopped, Steve opened his eyes and looked at where they had stopped. A bar that looked cheaper than Tony’s normal alcohol preference. Steve paid the driver and stepped out on to the sidewalk, wishing he knew Tony better. 

The bar was noisy and dark on the inside. It was very nearly empty, save for a few bums drinking at the bar and Tony on the very end away from the door. Steve smiled politely at the bartender and made his way over to Tony. 

“Tony, what are you doing?” Steve asked, as Tony downed another shot of something. He couldn’t tell if it was whiskey, scotch or tequila. It could have been all three for all Steve knew. And the smell that was coming from Tony’s direction said it might be something completely different all together. 

“Leave me alone.” Tony’s voice was clear, and unaltered by the alcohol. 

“No. I’m not leaving you alone. 

“Whatever. Just… keep your mouth shut.” Tony said downing another drink. 

“What happened to ‘recovering alcoholic’?” Steve asked quietly. Tony noticeably rolled his eyes.

“What happened to ‘keeping your mouth shut’?” Tony retorted motioning for another drink. Steve sighed and motioned for a drink to be passed to him. He didn’t condone this behavior, but Tony obviously had no intention of stopping til he was quite satisfied. What was Steve supposed to do? Destroy the bar to get Tony in a car and back to the mansion?

For a while they just sat together at the bar, drinking. It wasn’t affecting Steve the way it was affecting Tony. Tony kept getting more and more drunk. And Steve remained logical and alert, which really worked. Tony was quiet the entire time, motioning for more drinks, and downing them silently. Steve watched as Tony destroyed his liver, wishing there was something more he could do. 

“What happened?” Steve finally said after a while. The liquor glass paused at Tony’s lips, his hands clearly shaking. He set the glass down on the bar, his head bent forward. Tony turned ever so slightly towards Steve, his eyes darker than Steve had ever seen them. 

“Clint ran away. He just left, no goodbye, no explanation. Valerie thought she had scared him off, thought he couldn’t stand being around her. She thought he was running away from all of us as well. I stayed with her that entire day. I made her feel better, I helped her realize he would come back, he just needed time because of his feelings for her father.” Tony started, his voice quiet. Steve remembered playing with Tony and Valerie, they had a lot of fun, and Valerie seemed like she had been enjoying it. 

“Then Clint comes back, and I don’t know what happened, but it’s like the previous day never happened. And you know what he asks me? Not even face to face, but over text message? He asks for full custody of Valerie.” Tony brought the newly filled glass of liquid up to his lips and downed it, and Steve knew he was hoping to wash away the last few weeks. 

“Well, I’m sure an agreement can be-“ Steve began but Tony glared at him.

“He didn’t even ask how I felt about it! He just asked if we could transfer custody to him. He assumed I didn’t want the burden of a child! He assumed I enjoy being this way! I wanted to be her father!” Tony shouted, the already empty bar growing entirely silent. Steve stared at Tony, a new found respect for this man who had already lost so much, and was about to lose even more. 

Steve looked at the bartender and motioned for more drinks. Steve still disapproved, but sometimes the wrong thing needs to be done. Steve got out his phone and walked a few feet away from Tony. 

“Natasha, Tony is mad about Clint asking for custody. Can you talk to him and maybe make him see some sense? I’m gonna try to get Tony back to the mansion, but I think he’ll kill Clint on sight at this point.” Steve said carefully, his back facing Tony. When he turned back, phone already sliding into a pocket, Tony was gone. Steve looked at the bartender who shrugged his shoulders and went back to cleaning the bar. Steve sighed, this was going to be a long day. He hoped no one decided to take over New York today. 

**

He watched from a room, watching everyone go about their business. He saw Natasha in the lab with Bruce. He saw Clint spending time with Valerie. He saw Tony working all night on the team’s suits, and he saw him leaving in an angry flurry. He saw Thor struggling with the stove, and he saw Steve being a good man. 

He saw their tiny little lives play out on the screens before him, heard their voices as tinny weak things through the small speakers.

He knew everything about them, and he saw everything, from his tiny cramped room. He longed to be out there, he longed to see them with his own eyes, longed to hear their real voices with his ears, he longed to see the sun and hear the wind again. But he was locked in this tiny dark, cramped room until it was time. 

He had no idea what was coming, no idea when he could leave. All he knew was that for now, he was stuck. And he longed to feel the touch of another again.

**

Clint stared at his phone. Why hadn’t Tony responded? Valerie was playing some video game with Thor, she was winning and he was loudly questioning the reality of such a device. Clint never noticed Bruce behind him, a very disapproving look on his face. 

But when he turned around, he saw him. He shivered a little, a cold slinking down his spine at the look in Bruce’s eyes. 

“You okay, Bruce?” Clint asked him, clapping a hand on his shoulder as he made his way into the kitchen. Bruce turned around to continue looking at Clint, and watched as Clint began getting out the fixings for a bowl of cereal. 

“Why would you send something like that over text message to Tony?” Bruce asked incredulously. Clint stopped making food and let his eyes slide up to Bruce’s. He gulped because as scary as Natasha was, Bruce was the silently disapproving, frowning loudly kind of person. And it made Clint uncomfortable when Bruce gave him that disappointed look. 

“I didn’t think Tony would mind. He’s not really the parental type, you know?” Clint said calmly, keeping his cool as he continued making his breakfast. Bruce sighed loudly and Clint ignored it as best he could. He felt like he was about to get in trouble, hell, he knew he was about to get into trouble. 

“You don’t really think about other people’s emotions do you Clint? You only use what you can see on the outside, but you don’t reconsider the inside. Tony was really looking forward to doing this. He’s never been much of a family guy for obvious reasons, but you really hurt him by sending that text.” Bruce said as Clint seemed to ignore him. 

“Tony look forward to raising a kid?! You can’t be serious? The guy said it himself! He’s a playboy with a lot of money and a taste for alcohol. Everyone was insane for thinking he could do this. He probably is just busy gathering all the paperwork to get the transfer ready.” Clint said chuckling a bit at the idea of Tony raising a kid. 

When Clint looked up at Bruce, he saw the most terrifying look in his eyes. Clint wasn’t scared of The Other Guy, not one bit. But this side of Bruce, the side no one saw. The controlled furious anger that Bruce had in his eyes now, was something Clint was honestly scared of. This was angry Bruce, without Hulk, and it was something Clint hadn’t expected. Everyone thinks of blind anger, and rage and turning into the Hulk when they think of Bruce getting angry, not this scary silent, controlled anger Bruce was exhibiting. 

He walked forward and grabbed Clint’s wrist, dragging him into another room away from Thor and Valerie. 

“Tony is getting wasted right now, because he was looking forward to being given the chance to be a fatherly figure. And that chance might be getting ripped out from under him just because a childish man decided he wanted to do it instead, without even asking properly and politely. So you are going to call Tony, and you are going to apologize for being an asshole. And when you are done doing that, you are going to call Steve and apologize to him, because he chased Tony down and has been trying to talk him out of killing you. Then you are going to be a good friend and colleague and be there when Tony needs you, no matter what. Do I make myself clear?” Bruce said in a threatening whisper. 

Clint nodded, before retreating like a grounded child back to the kitchen. Bruce inhaled deeply then exhaled before making his way back down to his lab. Natasha was sitting on the counter like she had been before. 

“That was good. Now come here, angry man.” Natasha said seductively. Bruce smiled, maybe this team thing wasn’t a bad idea. 

**

Steve spent another hour tracking down Tony, and when he finally found him again he was not as complacent has he had been earlier. He grabbed Tony’s shoulders, stood him up, and began steering him towards the cab. He was not going to spend any more time in a bar, and had no intention of letting Tony out of his sight again. 

“Steve, let me go. Seriously, just leave me alone.” Tony complained loudly as they walked towards the cab, but he didn’t fight Steve. But he did struggle a bit when he was getting into the car. 

“Tony, stop struggling and just get in the damn car!” Steve said loudly at one point. Tony mumbled angrily and climbed into the car, glaring angrily at the back of the cabbie’s head. This was not where he wanted to end up today. 

“Look, I know this sucks. Nothing is working out, and the last few weeks have been brutal, but you need to understand that you have your team now. You don’t have to revert to alcohol to get over something. We’re here to talk about anything, and everything. So next time you have a problem, you just open up a door and start talking.” Steve said angrily after giving the address to the cabby. 

“I don’t like talking about my problems.” Tony said quietly. 

“Well that’s too damn bad. If I find you in a bar, or this intoxicated again, I will personally make sure every single Iron Man suit is painted pink and covered in glitter. You have to talk to us Tony. We’re your team! Our lives all depend on how well we work together! We have to become a team. And that means getting along and knowing each other’s problems. Are we clear?” Steve said looking at Tony who was pouting like a child in the seat beside him. 

“Fine, whatever. But I’ll kill you if you paint my suit pink.” Tony grumbled. Steve chuckled hoping Tony was agreeing with him. He watched Tony pouting, and wondered whether he was really going to be okay. 

Tony was a good man, and fate hadn’t always been the best to him. Tony had a chance at something really good and normal now, and Steve just didn’t want Tony or anyone else to mess it up for Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh!!! I'm so sorry it took soo long! I didn't intend for Clint to end up as her 'dad' and wasn't sure how to run with it, because I had everything planned with Tony being her dad, but it's all good now. Thank you to everyone who's reading and to PsychopompSentinel, secretluvin, londonsabre, JaspersDarkAngel, JiM, and avengergirl1118 for commenting! Special thanks to secretluvin (should have said this weeks ago!) who made me remember people were reading this and liking it! :D again sorry it took so long!


	6. Clarity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Legal issues are sorted out and the first crayon note is received.

When Steve had sat Tony and Clint in a room to talk things over, Steve was a little worried. Natasha and Bruce stood outside the room with him, all waiting to find out what the verdict was. Steve heard what Bruce had said to Clint and thanked him for attempting to get Clint to see the other side of things. 

It took hours, and Steve was positive it was because Tony and Clint refused to talk for the first five. Natasha disappeared and came back with pizza for the three of them. They sat outside the door and ate pizza, no one talking. It was closing in on the seventh hour, when Fury walked down the hall towards them. 

“Where is Barton?” He growled at the three in the hallway. Steve looked at Natasha and Bruce. Bruce wasn’t even looking at Fury; he just kept eating his fourth slice of pizza and watching the door. Natasha glanced at Steve, an eye brow quirked up in a silent question. 

Steve looked down at the floor, they were in agreement. He looked back up at Fury and thrust his thumb in the direction of the room behind him. Fury nodded and stalked into the room, slamming the door shut behind him. 

Steve winced as he heard the sounds of yelling and berating through the thick walls of the mansion. Natasha looked away from the door, her fingers playing lightly with Bruce’s. None of them had wanted Stark and Barton to get in trouble, they thought they could deal with this on their own, but someone had alerted Fury to what was at hand.

They weren’t sure what was said in the room, what Fury was yelling at them about. But Steve was sure it had something to do with Valerie and the current custody issue. Half an hour after he walked in, Fury walked back out. He didn’t say anything, just continued down the hallway and most likely out of the mansion. 

A few seconds later, Tony and Clint followed, looking like children that had just been yelled at. Clint stalked down the hallway towards his room and Tony stood in front of Natasha, Steve and Bruce, looking like he was figuring out what to say. 

“Fury was furious that it was even a question. He said that I would have custody of Valerie until she became of age or something happened to me. And he told Clint that he can be a part of her life as much as he would like, but he won’t be her father. Who called him?” Tony asked looking at his friends.

“Not any of us. We’ve been waiting for you guys to come out since we put you in there.” Steve said with a shrug. Natasha nodded, agreeing with Steve. 

“Oh, okay. Can I have a slice of pizza?” Tony asked sitting down, his back against the wall. Steve handed him a slice, and a plate. Tony took a bite and closed his eyes. Steve watched Tony, the edges of his mouth curling up a little. Tony looked exhausted, and Steve knew it was because of his drinking earlier. Tony was sober now, and it looked like a great weight had been taken off his shoulders. 

Earlier in the bar, Tony’s face had wrinkled with worry and hurt. His shoulders had slumped over and his eyes had contained an emotion that Steve wasn’t sure how to put into words. There had been a sea of emotions rolling through Tony’s mind, and Steve could see it in his brown eyes. 

But now Tony looked relieved, like he was just trying to breathe, relax. Steve wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he regarded Tony with a sort of wonder. The change in his body language and the emotions his face showed was like a completely different person. Steve looked away, realizing he was staring. 

Tony opened his eyes, and saw Steve retreating down the hallway. He looked over and saw Natasha and Bruce share a look. Not a romantic look, but a knowing look, one that made Tony very nervous. 

“What’s going on with you two?” Tony asked before taking a large bite out of his pizza. His gaze flicked between the two ‘lovebirds’- yeah he knew about their interactions in his lab- waiting for them to answer him while he chewed. 

“Nothing, just… observing.” Natasha smiled at Tony with that mysterious smile that made Tony really suspicious. 

“Bruce?” Tony asked, but all he got in reply was a shrug from Bruce. Tony looked back over his shoulder where Cap had disappeared to, and wondered why he’d left in such a hurry. Tony looked down at his pizza, wondering if Steve was angry with him or something. He hadn’t been angry before.

**

Clint and Valerie were whispering conspiratorially when Steve came down for breakfast a few days after. They shushed the moment he walked in and watched him from the couch as he started moving around the kitchen making breakfast. He wasn’t sure who had already had breakfast so he just made breakfast for everybody.

Eggs, toast, bacon, waffles, and freshly sliced fruit with an assortment of syrups and condiments. Clint and Valerie watched Steve as he made the food, and Steve tried to ignore them. He hummed lively melodies from his younger years, and even some newer music he’d heard Tony playing. He even tried paying attention to what was on the screen. But the following eyes of Valerie and Clint were too much for Steve.

“And what are you two doing?” Steve sighed out, cautious to ask in the first place. They exchanged a look, before turning back to Steve. 

“Just watching.” Clint said in that voice that just screamed with mischief. 

“Really? Because you’ve been ‘just watching’ since I came into the kitchen.” Steve said, flipping the bacon over. The sizzle of meat on the pan, and aromatic scent of bacon filled the kitchen. Steve smiled, knowing the remaining members of his team would be down in an instant, with Thor leading the herd.

“Well, you’re a fun person to watch, Uncle Steve.” Valerie interjected. Steve glanced over his shoulder, not trusting either of them. 

During a fight, you’d want Clint on your side. He was intelligent and stealthy and had the best aim Steve had ever seen. But the moment you took the bow away and the danger was gone, he was like a little child. Slightly immature, foolish and grinning from ear to ear more likely than not. And while Steve wouldn’t say he was a bad influence on Valerie, he did think it was a little dangerous to have her hanging out with such a pranking master mind at such a young age. 

And right on cue, Thor rushed into the kitchen, followed closely by Natasha, who was dragging a haggard looking Bruce, and closing up the rear a few steps behind was Tony looking like he was the newest member of the walking undead. 

Seeing everyone else start to line up, Clint vaulted over the side of the couch and practically appeared before Natasha in line, their noses nearly touching. 

“Back. Of. The. Line. Barton.” Natasha gritted out, her hair mussed up and her nostrils flaring. Barton smiled sheepishly and made his way quickly to stand behind Tony, who had Valerie already perched on his shoulders. 

Steve looked over at his team, standing in line quietly and patiently. Bruce glanced at the table and nudged Natasha. She glanced over and continued to glower at the world. 

“Thor, grab plates. Tony, Val, utensils. Clint, cups.” Natasha said as she opened up the fridge. She started handing an assortment of beverages to Bruce who laid them neatly on an unused counter space. Steve smiled, and nearly started laughing. This was his family. 

A strange, and very odd family, who had been thrown together during a time of need. They weren’t supposed to work. Yet, they did. And now they all lived together, because Tony had accidentally volunteered to house them. And it worked. Surprisingly, it worked. 

“Alright, foods done.” Steve called out to no one in particular. Thor, Clint and Tony, with Valerie still perched on his shoulders, each grabbed the large plates of food items and carried them to the table, where places had been set for each of them. 

Steve watched as his family dug into breakfast. He had never had siblings, or a large family at all for that matter. For most of his life, it had been just him and his mom, and eventually just him. He liked this large family. You were never lonely. You were never without someone to talk to when you needed someone. 

Steve sat down and dished out food on his plate and watched everyone pass the food around, laughing and smiling at each other. When breakfast was done, Steve, with help from Natasha and Thor, cleaned up the kitchen that had become a complete mess. Tony walked into the living room with Clint, Valerie, and Bruce to play some racing game on one of Tony’s many new gaming consoles. 

It was one of those picturesque family moments, the kind that make you forget you’re a superhero who is charged with saving the world. For a just a few moments, maybe an hour, Steve forgot he was Captain America, and that his friends, his family, were the Avengers. That’s not something you forget easily. 

Steve watched them play some kind of racing game, happy that everything had been solved between them all. Tony would take full custody and be a dad to Valerie, and Clint decided that he would probably be a better older brother than a father. Especially when Steve sat him down and talked it over with him; he would have responsibilities, he would have to discipline Valerie when she misbehaved or when she did something wrong. He would have to decide the best way to raise her to be an intelligent young woman. 

Something about that frightened Clint. Not twenty minutes later, Tony was saying that Clint had apologized for his actions and he was totally okay with Tony being her father/guardian. 

Steve smiled to himself, watching everyone laughing and arguing with each other. He looked to Tony, his smile widening a bit. Tony changed the way he thought about everything. Whether he meant to or not, Tony offered a whole new way of thinking about the world. 

Before Steve had sacrificed himself to rid the world of the Tesseract, before he had even become Captain America, he had thought the world had a certain way about it. But this world, Tony’s world, was much different than the one he grew up in. It may have the same name, the same history, and even the same people. But it was different, everything about it was different. Even if it was only different to Steve. 

And Tony made it different. Tony turned it all around on Steve, creating a world where Steve wasn’t sure about his footing. In Steve’s world, joining the army was an honor, you would go steady with a girl when you were really serious about her. In Steve’s world, men liked women and married ‘em and that was that. 

But in Tony’s world, everything was different, opposite what Steve knew. And while it confused and frightened Steve, the differences in their world also meant not everyone had to be the same. You could be someone completely different than your best friend. No one was supposed to be identical in every way. 

And with that individuality, it meant you didn’t have to conform to anyone else’s idea of who you’re supposed to love. Steve wasn’t sure whether that thought was supposed to alarm him or comfort him. He liked girls, he always had, right? He wasn’t sure, because in his world, guys were supposed to like girls. That’s the way it worked. 

Was the idea that you could like, even love, anyone you wanted, a relief to him? Was he supposed to find it alarming that the world had changed so much in 70 years? Was he supposed to be proud that they were evolving into a better species? Was he supposed to be appalled at the idea of two guys in love? It wasn’t his place to judge them. 

In Tony’s world, a world where you could be anything, do anything, love anyone, Tony was the only thing that made sense. He owned this world and even in all the confusion of technology, in the whirlwind of people moving around all the time, never staying in one place for too long, Tony was the only thing that anchored him to who he was.   
It could have been Tony’s connection with Howard, who had been part of him becoming Captain America. It could have been his own personal relationship with Tony, who had become someone he could trust. And while Steve wasn’t quite sure, he did know that Tony was clear in a hazy world. 

**

Steve had just finished an intense work out, and was cleaning up when he found it. A piece of paper, written in crayon. The handwriting was neat and precise, the message confusing at best. 

‘Everything’s different. Take a chance on him.’

Steve stared down at it, part of him became anxious at what the author meant. Though he had no actual idea of what that could be. He folded the note in half and shoved it in his gym bag. He had to meet with Tony about training strategies, but the note would remain in the back of his mind for the rest of the day. 

**

Everything was coming to a close. It wouldn’t be long now. He watched them on his monitors, watched them pretend to be a family, pretend to be normal. They would never be normal. They couldn’t never be normal. It wasn’t who they were. 

Their entire world was going to collapse soon. Everything they loved would be ripped away, nothing was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I've taken so long to update! I keep getting stuck at stupid parts in these filler chapters because I don't want to trigger the exciting things or spoil any of the cool things I have planned for later chapters. There is an end, just so you know. And i'll try to write some more stuff ahead of time, so I can be quicker with updates.


	7. New York Is on Fire: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets a crayon letter. New York is under attack. Not everyone will make it out alive.

Tony was staring off into the distance, but it sure looked like he was staring at Steve’s back side. He wasn’t. He would blatantly tell any who questioned him that he wasn’t staring at Steve’s gorgeous, perfectly round back side. Nope, not at all. 

“Tony, you’re staring.” Natasha whispered quietly as she floated silently through the kitchen. Tony looked up at her, glowering at her insinuation. But she paid him no mind, and turned her attention to Steve.

“Morning, Captain.” She said quietly rubbing her shoulder against his as she grabbed a bowl from the cupboard. He smiled and whispered a warm, “Good morning,” to her. Tony stayed silent and looked away from the beautiful ass, trying to focus anywhere else in the kitchen. 

“And good morning to you, Tony.” Steve called over his shoulder before busying himself with… well Tony wasn’t sure what Steve was doing. Tony had been watching him for nearly twenty minutes and he had no idea what Steve was doing. 

Natasha sidled up to Tony and smiled at him. Tony liked Natasha, but sometimes the way she smiled at him made him very wary.

“What are you smiling at?” Tony asked cautiously, still internally debating on what Steve was doing. 

“You are so cute when you’re crushing on someone.” She whispered sweetly. Tony rolled his eyes and went back to sulking, and not staring at Steve’s ass. That was a lie; he was definitely staring at Steve’s ass. 

She laughed lightly and left the kitchen as silently as she had entered. It was five minutes after she was gone, that he noticed the slip of paper in his hands. In blue crayon it read, ‘The world isn’t black and white anymore. Don’t be afraid to test out some new colors.’

Tony read it and then read it again and once more after that. What did it mean? What was the purpose of someone leaving that note? He looked up and Steve was leaning over the counter watching him now. 

“Ummm… hi.” Tony said, staring into Steve’s big blue eyes. Steve smiled at Tony and said hi back. “I was just uhhh…. Looking at this note.” Tony said holding up the paper he had found. Steve grabbed it from Tony’s hands and read it quickly. 

“It’s interesting. I got one similar to that the other day. Mine was in red crayon and completely different hand writing. What the heck is going on here? Who do you think it is?” Steve asked handing the paper back to Tony. Tony shrugged not knowing what to make of it. What did Steve’s even say?

“Well, I didn’t find mine til after Natasha left. But it was a while after she left, and I was a bit distracted, for all I know some other culprit could have snuck in and out without me, or you, knowing. Doubtful, but in this house, possible.” Tony wanted to shrug it all off and go hide in his room or his lab. 

“Tony, what do you think it means?” Steve asked, trying to get something from the supposed genius. 

“Well the only qualities they have in common are the utensil in which they were written, the cryptic yet very possibly personal advice and the mysterious sender. Which are pretty much the most important factors in this case.” Tony said, finally putting on that billionaire genius smile that Steve had been waiting for. 

He was now the same old ignorant and self-absorbed Tony Stark that he knew and, possibly maybe but not at all, loved. 

“So are we going to figure out who sent us these? Or just sit around and wait for the next clue?” Steve asked, playing along. There was a certain air about Tony, something playful. 

“Oh yes, dear Watson! To the chase!” Tony yelled before grabbing Steve’s hand and leading him down towards the lab. 

As they ran down the hallway, Natasha looked down the hallway and smirked that suspicious smirk that frightened Tony. 

“What are you doing Natasha?” Bruce asked from his bed. He was still trying to sleep, and was trying, not very successfully, to block the rest of the house out. 

“Nothing. Go back to sleep.” Natasha said innocently, climbing back onto the bed to mess with Bruce’s hair some more. He was out in two minutes and she was left alone to think, and scheme. 

**

The call came in the early hours of a Thursday morning. Something big was destroying Manhattan. The team was ready to go in five minutes, but as they were getting ready to head out, Tony remembered Valerie and his new parental responsibilities. He quickly pulled out a phone and called Pepper. Hopefully she was on this coast at least. 

“Tony, I am not going to give you access to the company bank account. You have to get permission and grants whenever you run out of money while working on a project.” Pepper’s annoyed voice sounded through the phone. 

Their break up had been quiet and friendly. While they had both been deeply invested in each other, eventually their interests were just different. They parted ways, still remaining in contact for obvious reasons. 

“That’s not what I’m calling about, thank you very much. There’s a problem in Manhattan and I was hoping you could come keep an eye on something here at the manor. If you could be here as quick as possible that would be great.” Tony said, inputting Steve’s instructions into JARVIS so that they could deal with this quickly and efficiently. 

“As soon as possible? That’s not like you, Tony.” 

“Pepper, will you do this, please?” Tony asked, starting to get annoyed. 

“Fine, fine. I’ll be over as soon as I can. Go save New York again.” Tony heard Pepper click off the line, and zoomed through the sky, one eye on the Quinjet following him from about 40 yards back. 

Tony took a deep breath before turning the corner, preparing himself for whatever lay before him. This was going to be a long day. 

**

Clint leaned against a broken building, trying to breathe in. He wasn’t quite sure where they had gone wrong; where he had gotten the upper hand. He tried to remember back. It was sometime after Natasha was batted out of the air by god knows what, but before Thor was pummeled ten feet underground. 

For about a half hour, it seemed like they were winning, like it was gonna be an easy fight and they could go home, take their showers, then sit down for pizza and a movie. But that wasn’t the case anymore. Clint wasn’t even sure what they were fighting against. At first it was a giant robot thing, something that Tony had commented on being primitive in technology. But it turned out all the not so basic technology was on the inside. Tony wasn’t sure who made the robot, so they couldn’t figure out a weak point by previous battles. 

There was nothing they could do but get everyone out of there as quickly as possible. 

Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Tony evacuated the people from surrounding buildings and cleared the streets for blocks. People were flooding into the other districts of New York, while a large untouchable robot made its way towards Brooklyn. 

There wasn’t a pattern or a plan to the robot’s attack, it was just moving around making a whole lot of noise and mess. 

Thor and Bruce, all hulked out, were doing everything they could to take the monster out. Nothing was working. They had help from some kid who called himself, ‘Spiderman’ but he couldn’t do much. Meanwhile, JARVIS was working on figuring out something that would give the Avengers any advantage at all. 

But now, there were these bug things. They came out of nowhere and just kept on coming. They were going on their fifth hour of this battle, and yet still weren’t getting anywhere. 

“Clint, I need your help.” Tony’s voice crackled over the comm and Clint looked up just in time to see Tony flying overhead. He was up in the air, and flying over the streets of New York in the blink of an eye. 

“What’s going on, Tony?” Clint asked looking for the trouble he thought Tony was having. But as they rounded a corner, Tony flew straight up and landed on a tall building, Cap beside him. Clint looked out over New York City, and felt what little hope he had, drain from him. Four more robots were destroying the city, bugs were covering Central Park, and fires were bursting up on streets, cutting people off from escaping from the city. They were being herded like cattle for a slaughter. 

“We have to get them out of here.” Clint said breathlessly. Tony nodded and Cap kept his eye on the horizon. 

“Do we have anything big enough to get as many people out of here as possible?” Cap asked, trying to evaluate how many people they could save. He wanted to save them all, but even he knew that wasn’t going to happen. But he was going to give all he had to try. 

“We have the quinjets. If we can get Fury to cooperate we could load everyone onto the helicarrier.” Tony was throwing out suggestions. His mind was elsewhere and Clint knew why. That section of Manhattan was on fire. 

“The Naval Carriers. There are at least ten Navy Carriers, each with enough space to hold well over the New York City population, currently sitting in the New York Harbor.” Clint said looking towards the water. And as you got closer to the water, the less destruction there was. 

“We clear a path to the water; get everyone out of the city, and wait til we get more back up to deal with this issue. We are clearly in over our heads with this. Our first concern always should be the people we are protecting. We can’t protect them if they’re dead.” Steve agreed with Clint. It was a smart plan, the only plan in all honesty. Tony nodded and he shot out some ideas about where to go. 

“I’m sure Pepper got her out of there. She’s smart and independent, and probably halfway to California by now.” Clint whispered to Tony before they headed back to regroup. Tony nodded, but stayed silent. 

Tony was worried, though. He had failed to warn Pepper that she was to be watching a young girl. He had left that part out, so he could hear her get all riled up. Some of their best arguments were when she was riled up over a joke or prank Tony had pulled on her. But he hadn’t gotten a call from her letting him know about her disapproval of not properly warning her. He hadn’t gotten a call from Pepper letting him know how much of gigantic jerk he was for not at least letting her know ahead of time what was happening. Pepper always takes whatever chance she gets to call Tony an idiot. Pepper hasn’t called yet. And the lack of a phone call was as subtle as a fire truck siren to Tony. 

**

They were 20 blocks from the water. Cap had rallied the police force into herding people. Tony was flying overhead making sure they weren’t heading towards a trap. Bruce, still as the Other Guy, along with Clint, Natasha and Thor made sure any of those bug things stayed out of the way of the people. The young kid, Spiderman, was flying through other streets and alleyways, grabbing any stragglers he could find and leading them to safety. It was working well. 

Tony was on the phone with Fury, who was conferencing with the Council, while Hill was working on the Navy. It took a while, but they finally agreed to open their doors to the people of New York. 

A city wide evacuation had been ordered, and Tony was sure everyone had gotten themselves out of buildings. But just to be sure, they were going to double back and quickly check. 

“Spidey, how many people seem to be lost?” Tony asked switching channels. He was suddenly quite glad Steve had mentioned loaning the young kid a comm. He had argued that if he was to work with them, they needed a valid channel of communication other than yelling at the top of their lungs and hoping he heard them. 

“There’s been a fair number of people, a quick sweep wouldn’t be a bad idea. There seems to be more people coming out of Brooklyn than anywhere else. I know the area really well, there are places where people might not have gotten the evacuation order.” His voice sounded breathy, and so young. Tony agreed and mentioned how after they got the majority onto boats, they’d all swing back over. 

They were ten blocks away. Navy officers were already out waiting for them, already loading people who were close by. Tony looked over his shoulder and saw half of New York on fire. He fought against all his instincts to call Pepper and make sure she and Valerie were safe. But he knew they were. Pepper was amazing and probably paid attention to what was going on, and got the two of them out of there as quick as possible. 

Bruce was suddenly taken over by bugs in one of the side streets. Tony flew down to help him, but they were coming for them. Huge cock roach like things, nothing special about them, except for the huge pincers that easily could pinch of a grown man’s head in two seconds flat. 

“Cap, Hulk is covered in crawlies, help Clint and Spidey keep them away from the herd. Me, Thor and Tasha are gonna be a bit busy.” Tony said quickly. He briefly saw Cap pull back and watch the side streets, before zooming off to help Bruce. 

Tony called for Natasha and Thor, still trying to hold off more bugs from joining the party on Bruce. It took five minutes of them fighting and wrestling the giant things to get Bruce clear of all of them. Tony did a quick sweep with some beams to keep them away before they made their way back to the rest of the group. 

“We’re loading the boats. Once everyone is on, we’ll set up a quick sweep of the city, before we regroup on the Helicarrier.” Steve’s voice came through the comm, he was probably watching for them from where he was loading citizens. Everyone agreed quickly, and started helping in any way that they could. 

It took about twenty minutes, and everyone was loaded onto boats. A ship or two, claiming to be full, were already out at sea, trying to get as far from the city as possible. Tony had scanned the waters and didn’t see anything strange waiting for them out in the water. Every attack seemed to be land based for now. 

“Heli carrier is still thirty minutes out. They were circling China when the attack started.” Tony said after JARVIS pulled up the flight information on his screen. Tony was trying to keep his head in the game. 

“Alright, for now let’s turn back and do a sweep.” And soon Cap was barking out orders of where people were supposed to be going. Everyone headed out, going in their respective directions. It was going to be tough, what with the huge robots and the large bugs, but it was going to be worth it if they could save just a few more lives by going back one more time. 

A large boom shook the city, making everyone stop in their tracks. It was Brooklyn. Spiderman was gone, swinging towards what Tony assumed was his home. With a quick command, he told everyone to keep going, give him his space. There was nothing they could do. Even from there, they could see, it was gone. 

They continued on, starting to feel the weight of the situation bearing down on their shoulders. In the history of the world, when had a city, a large city containing millions upon millions of people, needed to be evacuated? What kind of situation was bad enough that the Avengers, Protectors of the World, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, couldn’t save their own city? 

Tony looked down and saw Captain America jumping from roof top to roof top, slower and with less gusto than when the sweep first started. And he knew then that they were thinking the same thing. This was something they couldn’t handle. All of New York had been evacuated, at least those who had survived thus far. 

**

“Captain America, we are closing in on New York City, where is your team?” Fury’s voice sounded through his comm. It wasn’t angry or agitated, or even panicked. It was calm, and Cap swore he heard the slightest bit of resignation. 

“They are with me, sir.” Cap said looking around at his team. They hadn’t made it all the way through New York City. After a certain point, there was nothing to go through. Just like with Brooklyn, large parts of the city were just gone. Entire districts no longer existed. Captain looked over and saw the general area where the Mansion once stood was smoking. That was better than earlier, you could probably see the flames from the other side of the Hudson. 

“We’ll be there in a minute.” 

“They’re almost here. Where’s Spiderman?” Steve asked looking at his friends, his family. They looked so broken and tired. After what happened with Loki, he thought he would never see them that exhausted again. But compared to now, that time in the Schawarma shop looked like a happy cheerful memory. 

“Probably scouring Brooklyn. We’ll swing over there with the Helicarrier. He probably needs a ride. I would bet a lot of money the kid just lost his home, and probably some friends.” Tony said quietly from beside Steve. 

“You should call Pepper. Make sure she and Val are okay. Find out where they are at least so we can reconnect at some point.” Tony nodded, but seemed a bit distracted. His eyes weren’t focusing, his speech was much slower than normal, and Steve hated to admit it, but there was some slurring. 

Steve quietly instructed Tony to breathe in and out a few times, get oxygen flowing through him again, before telling him again to call Pepper. 

“Tony, are you okay? They evacuated all of New York. What the hell is going on?” 

“We couldn’t handle it. There were these large robots, and big bugs and lots of fire and bombs and I don’t know what happened. Or who’s behind it. We tried to get as many people out as possible, but I know some people weren’t fast enough. I know a lot of people didn’t make it out in time.” Tony sounded like he was close to either breaking into hysterics or fall asleep. 

“Oh my god, Tony. Is everyone okay?” Tony looked around at everyone. Bruce was back to himself, sitting next to Natasha, who was absently playing with his hair. Everyone was beat and bruised and bloodied. They’d all seen their fair share of action, even Tony’s suit was battered. 

“Yeah. Everyone’s bruised up pretty badly, and this kid who was helping us out, I think he lost a lot today. Bomb completely leveled Brooklyn. But at least we’re alive. How’s Val?” Tony asked finally remembering the main reason he called. 

“Val? Who’s Val?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. Have I mentioned I like writing horrifying endings? I must have somewhere....   
> I will try to get the second part to you as soon as possible. I do have the next two days off.


End file.
